How To Be An Effective Coach

Coaching is about giving instructions or demonstrating a particular skill to a 'trainee'.

Coaching vs training: Unlike Training, coaching may not use practical experience and feedback.

Coaching vs counseling: Coaching is also different from counseling as it is not a process for overcoming a specific situation or problem, unlike counseling which starts with the past, coaching is focused immediately on opportunities in the future.

Coaching vs mentoring: Coaching is not Mentoring because it is not focused primarily on 'Career Planning'.

Coaching vs appraisals: Unlike appraisals, coaching is usually an informal process and is done more frequently than a few times a year.

2. The two types of coaching

- Management Coaching: Helping someone solve a problem or carry out a task better. This is done by skilled managers, who do most of the talking and offer skills, knowledge, and experience.

- Achievement Coaching: You do not necessarily need expert knowledge about a subject to get involved in achievement coaching. Here, you do most of the listening. You focus on unlocking the person’s potential, gaining their commitment, developing their expertise.

3. Six benefits of coaching

- Helps develop leadership skills

- Gives people a chance to contribute their ideas

- Generates real work, while learning.

- Enhances the skill and competency of the coach and the learner

- Forces a focus on quality

- High ownership and commitment

4. 11 achievement coaching questions

- How do you see yourself achieving that?

- What would you like to do?

- When do you think you will complete that?

- How do you see that working?

- What resources will you need?

- Who else will be working with you on this?

- How could you do that better next time?

- What would success look like?

- How would you make that happen?

- Where do you plan to do this?

- What are the choices facing you?

5. 11 coaching tips

- Treat the ‘student’ as a person in their own right.

- Set them a good example.

- Encourage and support them.

- Praise them when he does well.

- Back them up with your superiors.

- Do your own job competently.

- Do not pull rank on the ‘student’.

- Keep them informed about what they needs to know.

- Take time from your normal duties to coach them.

- Never underestimate what they can do.

6. Focus on 'action learning': 'Learning by doing' works.

Also, while people are learning, they are doing real work for the company, solving real business problems (E.g. market research for new products in new markets) - there is an immediate return on investment. It also boosts teamworking.

People learn more from informal on-the job training than from classroom instruction. Apprenticeship is a proven way to learn ( Most prominently, in Germany).

Action learning is also 'just in time' learning.

7. Coach according to their learning style

Some people get bored easily with 'talk-heavy' instructions - you will make the chat highly relevant and brief. Others need more example before they really grasp something - these people will ask 'why' a lot.

Then there are people who are slow learners, and you will have to be patient.

8. How To Handle Unwilling Learners

To avoid their resistance, stay cool and dispassionate as a coach. Encourage and help learners to think through things for themselves.

Neither be too distant from them nor overestimate nor overenthusiastic.

Be willing to experiment with your coaching style.

9. When the coach also become a therapist

Generally, coaches do not try to go deep into fixing the student's underlying issues that are making the learner demotivated and suffering from low self-esteem.

But when coaches want their 'students' to improve their job performance, looking at these issues like a therapist does, becomes very necessary, or else the whole talking thing is basically useless.

Thank you for reading.
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